Clea is the final installment of the Alexandria Quartet, and it is a masterfully crafted conclusion to the novel. It neatly ties up loose ends where necessary and reopens the stories of those characters who manage to survive their dramatic fates.

Everyone, if not everything, is laid bare. In the process, everyone loses something. No one escapes unscathed, but in the end, everyone is true to themselves. There are those who hold the promise of a future life where happiness is possible, perhaps even likely. There are those who will continue to lurk in the background of others' lives, seeking some spark of life to be breathed into them. And there are those who are and remain the giants of this world, always destructive, always being destroyed, but always reinventing themselves, each time becoming truer to their dangerously captivating selves.

All the actors step out of the shadows and back into the spotlight for one last bow, bringing the story to a satisfying and memorable close.

The finale of this quartet of books is truly satisfying and, at long last, it features some thrilling plot twists and romantic intrigues. There's even a James-Franco-esque handcutting scene that is really quite remarkable.

Books one, two, and four are told from Darley's perspective. So, after the departure of book three, we return to the over-the-top style that began in Justine. I found Darley's observations about Egypt and writing (through Pursewarden) more engaging in this book than in the first two. I believe part of my preference stems from Durrell's attempt to present a character who has matured and experienced some failures.

I read most of this book in Parkersburg, West Virginia, while waiting for my car to be repaired. I like Parkersburg, but it's no Alexandria. The best thing I can say about Clea is that reading it, along with sipping an initially inspiring and later perhaps slightly harmful Turkish coffee, made Parkersburg feel like a foreign metropolis for a few hours. I felt cosmopolitan while having sweet tea at the Crystal Cafe, rakish during lunch with Kebab, and somehow carried away as Louis Thomas, of Louis Thomas Subaru, filled my car once again with freon and the sweat of labor.

I was briefly convinced that I was in the convoluted lives of the book's city dwellers when I was approached by a possibly insane woman who had been bitten by a spider. After I killed the spider for her, she scooped it up with a playing card she had conveniently in her purse (the Queen of Spades, a potentially awesome name for a species of spider) and wandered off to find poison control. After that, a guy shuffled by me and said, "Good day for it," although neither of us was sure what "it" was. Then I watched a gawky waiter pine for a tiny waitress while I considered the fact that, if I were to find myself in Parkersburg forever, I would buy the Menlon Building for one dollar and convert it into luxury apartments for possibly insane people.

These are my impressions.

Considering he spent the previous three books essentially presenting us with three diverse views of the same story, while introducing various adjustments to what we knew or believed we knew along the way, I had expected that the fourth volume, which would finally advance the timeline, would be a sort of final revelation and disclose the real story behind all the events we had witnessed previously. All the numerous questions would be answered. What were Justine and Nissim truly up to? Did Mountolive have a diplomatic endgame or was he simply improvising? And perhaps the most crucial question, how on earth did Darley manage to attract two extremely different women?

None of those questions are answered and maybe that's the intention, but he does manage to complicate that last question by having Darley be the lover of yet another woman. Maybe it was the war, perhaps tastes were different in 1940s Alexandria, but goodness ladies, were the choices that scarce?

But as promised, we pick up the story about six years later on the same island where Darley has been relating us the story and raising the child that resulted from Melissa and Nissim's affair several years back. Events bring him back to Alexandria and we are treated to what amounts to "Olde Home Week During Wartime" as he proceeds to check in with various old friends, obtain a job and then commence a romance with practically the only female character remaining.

For those hoping for stunning revelations or perhaps at least a continuation of the more realistic tone of the last novel, we're back to the territory that characterized the first two books, where Darley narrates everything in a self-absorbed and contemplative manner, spending pages pondering everything that has happened and will ever happen to him without much attention given to anything resembling a central plot. As Darley was perhaps my least favorite aspect of the first two books, this didn't bode well. However, as a person who reads those appendices at the end of "The Lord of the Rings" and gets emotional over the biographical details afterwards, I have to admit some curiosity as to what happened to all the characters when all the main action is completed.

And that we do get. Some of it we receive through hearsay and dispatches, but much is from meeting the characters themselves. After spending three books with these people, you do sense the ways they've changed over time. You don't quite get a Proustian broad sweep of unstoppable aging, but that may not be what Durrell is aiming for here. His observations are still finely tuned and there's a strange hazy morning-after vibe to the whole affair, as if the characters are stumbling through the aftermath of a dream they can't quite believe they've awakened from. Most of the old characters like Nissim or Justine get a scene or two (the child Darley's been raising seems to be dropped off with them and then forgotten about, which seems odd but perhaps it was a different era). And Durrell brings out the old tricks like devoting time to dear departed Pursewarden, who is back to being a mocking voice coming through in letters that probably helps to support whatever philosophical structure Durrell is attempting to build here. Mostly it halts what little plot is occurring (unlike the last book, where Pursewarden got to posthumously shed some light on things) and doesn't do much to justify the cast and the series' obsession with him, especially since half the time he comes across as a smart person unable to refrain from proving to you how clever he is.

Eventually Darley encounters Clea and literary nature takes its course. What's interesting about this pairing is how astonishingly normal it feels and while I still can't understand what she sees in him, it dissolves some of the heated melodrama of the earlier books into something that mature adults might recognize. As an examination of two people falling and perhaps out of love, it's fascinating. But more and more you feel like you're a witness to Darley's internal journey and for me he wasn't interesting enough to care about what discoveries he makes about his inner soul.

Durrell does get to showcase his suspense writer skills one last time, with an underwater tragedy that shocked me into realizing how much I'd come to care about some of these characters. With a series of events arranged so precisely, the gradual feeling of dread makes you reluctant to turn the page and change a status quo you've become accustomed to.

A lot of how you feel about this series may ultimately depend on how engaged you are with the philosophical approach to life and love that Durrell is exploring here. It's calm and nuanced but I found it difficult to connect with on an intellectual or emotional level. There isn't much sense of tragedy here (even Pursewarden's earlier suicide feels more like an inevitable background function than the total loss it should be, but that might be because he makes more appearances dead than alive) and what might have been a searingly intense character study takes the opposite approach into something more thoughtful. For someone on the same wavelength as what he's doing here, this will probably rank as one of their favorite books. For someone who can't quite make the leap, you're probably going to have to do what I did and focus on the staggeringly good prose, as well as the atmosphere that Durrell creates. More than trying to define a specific place and time, he's working to create something far more intensely personal, a state of mind shaped by both place and time but still unique to the mind being formed. His characters seem to be in a constant state of submerging, emerging only to discover there's still so much deeper to explore. How much and how closely you want to follow may depend on how in tune you are with Durrell's gift for construction. The events here rely on intersection, collaboration, and analysis but if you don't care about the whys of who is sleeping with whom, even the most shocking revelations are going to at best be met with grudging admiration for the effort and a shrug at the results.

Clea is the final book of the Alexandria Quartet. I believe that Durrell manages to give an excellent conclusion to the tetralogy.

In this novel, the narrative voice of Darley is resumed and the story reveals to us what finally happened with the main characters of the story. Clea, according to Durrell's novelistic plan, develops the temporal aspect of his work. The passage of time and its effect on sentimental relationships, in the course of the characters' lives and in the very transformation of Alexandria, the stage where everything unfolds, become evident.

In this last book, the war ends. That war is not analyzed externally, but is alluded to as something that is happening out there, something similar to what happens in the Decameron with the plague. We know that there is a context of death and destruction that affects and changes the landscape and impacts the destinies. However, the narrators and characters focus on telling us about their intimacy, their loves, their meetings and partings. I like novels where there are characters who write and characters who read. At several moments in the narration, letters, fragments of novels, reports or personal notes are interspersed, which allow or give rise to reflections, revelations or contrasting views of the events lived by the characters. Durrell writes well. I like his descriptions, the way he constructs the characters and the reflections or thoughts that surprise and make you want to underline. The Alexandria Quartet is an interesting and well-executed work, perhaps a bit outdated or anachronistic in certain ideological or aesthetic aspects, without a doubt. But it is a work recommended for those who are interested in the amorous theme and in the value and scope of writing to address that complex dimension of human existence. I had a debt with this writer and I am glad to have paid it off.

El Scob gets a shrine, and almost every other character loses an eye or a limb.

Justine has a droopy eye from a bit of stroke, so she makes the grade.

The concluding fourth volume continues in the same vaguely adolescent vein, swooning its way past Alexandria to the delta.

Durrell is a marvelous writer, especially when the tone turns comical. His descriptive language brings the characters and settings to life, making the reader feel as if they are right there in the story.

Despite its operatic tendencies, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It was a wild ride filled with drama, humor, and unforgettable characters.

The story took me on a journey through a world that was both beautiful and tragic, and I was sad to see it end.

I would highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good adventure story with a touch of the absurd.

**Original Article**: This is a short article. It needs to be rewritten and expanded.

**Expanded Article**:
This is a rather concise article.

It is in need of a rewrite and expansion to make it more comprehensive and detailed.

Perhaps additional information could be added to support the main points, or examples could be provided to illustrate the concepts better.

By expanding the article, it will become more engaging and useful for the readers.

This will allow for a deeper exploration of the topic and provide a more in-depth understanding.

I would say this: This is why I read. To find this, to reach this. I have completed one of the most magnificent, delicious, and extraordinary things I have read in my life with Clea. Starting the new year by reading this amazing tetralogy seems like such a right decision! The Alexandria Quartet is not a work that can be recommended to everyone, nor is it a work that everyone will love for sure. It is difficult because it requires effort and hard work from the reader, but it also gives back in kind. Its language is very flowery, yes, but when the sentences can be both magnificent and elegant at the same time, that's when the thing I love so much comes out: baroque. When baroque literature is mastered properly, it truly fascinates me, and unfortunately, the number of writers who can do this is very small. This tetralogy will remain in my mind - and not only in my mind, but also in my heart and on my skin - as one of the best examples of baroque literature I have read. Like a strange prism - in each book, it changes your point of view and presents the truth from another place with such delicacy that it is truly difficult for the writer to describe. You were right when you said, "A work of art is as like life as it is unlike it," Durrell. I am very happy to have met your Alexandria, which is the main character of the book, just like in the case of M., the main character of the beginning of In Search of Lost Time. Fortunately, I read it. Literature should be just like this. Thank you a thousand times and goodbye for now, Alexandria. I'm sure I'll come back to you one day. "I tried to find his trace on the pillow. One must try everything to find the moment again. There are so many places where it could be hidden."

I truly plodded through this series with great determination. The main reason was that I was extremely excited to read something penned by Larry Durrell. His character and idiosyncrasies had been deeply etched in my mind from Gerald Durrell's book.

Interestingly, the writing styles of both brothers are at completely different ends of the spectrum. My loyalties firmly lie with the younger brother, as 'My Family and Other Animals' is one of my all-time favorites.

The Alexandria Quartet series presented quite a challenge. I found myself opening the dictionary at almost every page. Moreover, the story sometimes dragged on so much that I had the urge to throw my Kindle in frustration. However, there were indeed some profound paragraphs and observations that managed to stay with me.

It's not easy to say if these redeeming qualities balance out the rest of my frustration with the books. Undoubtedly, the writing was brilliant, but it was the kind of brilliance that didn't necessarily translate into an enjoyable or unputdownable read.

In conclusion, I don't recommend this series. Nevertheless, I'm glad I was able to finish it, considering how difficult it was.

Whereas the first volumes of the Alexandra Quartet commence with a quotation sourced from "Justine" penned by the Marquis de Sade, Clea initiates with a quote derived from a distinct work of de Sade. It is every bit as thoroughly sadistic as the initial three volumes and is equally pleasurable to peruse.

Individually speaking, the novels are each dreadful. However, when considered together, they are truly outstanding. They do, nonetheless, necessitate being read in conjunction within a relatively brief span of time. This is because the cumulative effect of reading them all at once allows the reader to fully appreciate the complex web of relationships, themes, and motifs that are interwoven throughout the quartet.

Moreover, reading them together helps to clarify certain aspects that might otherwise seem confusing or disjointed when each novel is read in isolation. In conclusion, while each individual novel may have its flaws, the Alexandra Quartet as a whole is a remarkable literary achievement that demands to be read and savored in its entirety.

The book is only named Clea because the main characters are together and in love, but this is really only talked about in the last 100 pages of the book.

The rest of the story is about what happened after the other books and mainly focuses on Pursewarden.

The last 100 pages are the best part of the book. And within these 100 pages, the letter to Clea is truly the high point of this book and the entire quartet.

Thank God I finished this. Bye Lawrence Durrell.

Overall, the book has its moments of great beauty and depth, especially in those final pages. However, the first part can be a bit slow and disjointed, as it tries to tie together the events from the previous books.

Despite its flaws, "Clea" is still a worthwhile read for fans of Lawrence Durrell's work. It offers a unique perspective on love, loss, and the passage of time.

I'm glad I took the time to read it, but I'm also relieved to have finally reached the end.

The last book in the quartet - unfortunately, that it doesn't continue into one infinity! I catch myself longing for yet another book, yet another angle - for example, it could be called "Amril"!

Never before have I experienced a city being described so humanely, so sensually.

I will come to miss Durrell! For example, on page 210: "The scene was already written, the actors chosen, the timings and rhythm rehearsed to the last detail in the invisible author's mind, an author who perhaps in the end would prove to be just the city itself, the human situation of Alexandria. The germs of future events we carry within ourselves. They lie within us and unfold according to the laws of their own nature. It is hard to believe when one thinks of that summer's perfection and what followed after."

Durrell's writing truly brings the city of Alexandria to life. His descriptions are so vivid and detailed that one can almost smell the sea air and feel the warmth of the sun. The characters he creates are complex and multi-dimensional, and their relationships add depth and richness to the story.

I highly recommend this quartet to anyone who loves beautiful writing and a good story. It is a truly immersive experience that will stay with you long after you have finished reading the last page.

The taste remained on my palate.

It was a flavor that lingered, refusing to fade away easily.

Every time I thought about it, my mouth would water involuntarily.

The unique combination of spices and ingredients had created a symphony of tastes that danced on my tongue.

It was a memorable experience, one that I would cherish for a long time.

Whether it was the rich and savory notes or the hint of sweetness that followed, it all came together to form a taste that was truly unforgettable.

I found myself longing for that taste again and again, as if it had cast a spell on me.

Even now, as I write these words, the memory of that taste is still fresh in my mind, making me eager to experience it once more.